End of the Month
by Kenta Divina
Summary: Nanao has been working overtime yet again. Her Captain arrives in the nick of time to save her from her overzealous sense of duty.
1. Overtime

Author's Note: This one is for Genetix Chiquita and Maelynne Naveen. They have infected my head with possibilities. It is mixed with my own stress from work and annoyance at my personal life.

End of the Month

Dark halls echoed with stillness. Paper walls became haunting screens to dancing shadows cast by a half-moon. A cool, damp breeze crept through a cracked window but only ruffled the stacks of freshly signed papers.

Nanao carefully set her pen down on its holder and rubbed her palms together. Pursing her lips, she stared at the neat stacks of paperwork that had been backlogged all month. This was the fourth night in a row that she had been forced to stay in the office past midnight to stave off an inquiry from the higher-ups. She knew that with the past history of the Eighth Division an inquiry would only be a courtesy but the knowledge that it would be a blot on her reputation as Vice-Captain gave her no option.

She allowed herself a small smile. Perhaps she was letting the Captain get away with too much. She would never let him know that his pleading looks piled upon the flirtatious invasions of her personal space struck a chord in her. It was the first time in her life that any male had lavished so much attention on her – even such flamboyant attention. It was a deeply guarded, black secret of hers and the most recent consequences of it were apparent in that his naps had become longer, but less frequent while the invitations to drink were getting more persistent. He paid for them with a few more blows to the head and nothing more. The stacks of paper strengthened her resolve that the next month would make up for this back step.

Her shoulder muscles were uncomfortably tight. Nanao stretched her right arm out in front of her and winced when she heard the joint give with a loud pop. Some of the knots loosened and she sat back in her wooden chair. Again, she looked over the stacks of neatly organized paper and had to admit that the sight gave her an extreme sense of accomplishment despite the fact that all of it ought to have been signed by the Captain. Her signature would have to do.

Glancing around the room, she hesitated. It was near three in the morning and she had been alone since early evening. Only the janitorial service had bid her good night on this long weekend night. For the first time in the office, Nanao reached up to her hair clip and let it loose. Running a hand through the crimps left by the clasp, she reveled in the small sensation of freedom. Hiding a yawn behind her hand, the Vice-Captain stood to gather her things. The couch looked welcoming but she preferred her own futon.

A small white triangle sticking out from under the desk caught her eye. Bending down, she pulled out a final report. The temptation to simply incinerate it with a burst of reiatsu was strong, but Nanao was never one to give in to her impulses. She did, however, slap it down in irritation on the desk for punishment. Picking up her pen one more time, she jumped violently when the door to her office abruptly slid open. A heavy black blot appeared on the page.

"Nanao-chan!" Captain Shunsui breezed in bearing two jugs of sake. "I saw that the light was on and…" He stopped and blinked at the frozen form of his second. The usually goofy grin changed into something Nanao would rather not think about. "Your hair is down!"

She immediately reached for her clip. "Sir, I was about to leave."

Nimble fingers snatched the hairpiece from her hand. Before she could demand its return, the Captain had shoved it into his own heavy locks. Eyes wide, he grinned. "How does it look?"

Irritation was threatening to boil over. "Sir, give it back."

Shunsui pouted. "Was that an order?"

Nanao rolled her eyes. "That is my personal property."

With a clank, two sake bottles appeared on her desk, threatening to tip over one of her careful stacks of paperwork.

"I'm sharing my personal property. It's only fair that you do the same."

Nanao pushed a wayward strand of hair behind one ear, wishing desperately that she had a spare. She was extremely aware of his dark eyes following her every move, stalking her on a whole new level compared to the weekly harassment. He had an agenda tonight – a frightening thought considering the man never seemed to be interested in agendas.

To break the growing tension, she reached for the final report. "Since you are here, sir, you can sign this for me."

The corners of his eyes crinkled in genuine amusement. She hated herself for even noticing. Holding out her pen, she leveled her coldest stare at him. He sighed and reached for the small wooden stick.

"Even on the weekend, my Nanao-chan is so dedicated."

She blamed the late hour for her short outburst. "Only because you are not."

Shunsui's large hand closed over her waiting one. Nanao instinctively pulled back but was drawn up short when he refused to release her. About to pull her fan from its hiding place, the Captain bent over the paper and neatly signed his name with her hand.

"There, see how dedicated your Shunsui is?"

She ignored the strange sensation in her chest and tried to reclaim the hand he refused to release.

"Sir, are you suggesting that I forge you name? That is illegal."

He didn't reply but started to examine her fingers. "Such cute hands Nanao has! But they are all covered in ink!"

Rough fingertips gently rubbed at the blotches left by her pen. Of all the emotions running through her at his forwardness, Nanao chose the safest one – anger. "I have been here for the past eighteen hours doing paperwork for the entire month. I have been doing said paperwork for the past four nights. Forgive me for a couple of ink stains. Now please let go!"

He did exactly the opposite, tugging her around the desk. "I have the perfect solution to wash these delicate fingers."

In the blink of an eye, Nanao found herself expertly maneuvered so that her back was against the desk, hand outstretched to the side, and Shunsui's chest dangerously close to her face as he reached over her to one of the sake bottles. She caught the scent of sakura, laced with something purely male. She absently wondered why he didn't smell of alcohol since it was his day off. Not trusting her voice, she stoically endured the spine-tingling caress of rough fingers over her sensitive fingertips. The smell of sake accompanied a splash of liquid.

"Ah, see! The ink is going away."

Nanao had to admit that his choice of cleaning supplies worked surprisingly well. Shunsui doused her hand one more time, the sake splashing the office floor. Clenching her jaw, she searched frantically for her rationality.

He didn't mean anything by holding her hand.

He was only being nice – the least he could do considering the work she just did for him.

He wasn't… putting her fingers…

Nanao jerked her hand away from his mouth. Face heavily flushed, she pointedly turned back to the desk with its final report. Picking it up under the pretense of scanning it for sorting, she ignored the heavy silence behind her. His actions went far beyond any of his prior flirting – something she had learned to deflect effectively. This… The only thing she could think to do was pretend it hadn't happened.

With a heavy frown she realized she had stared at the signed page for some minutes and still not understood a word. To her horror, the heavy sigh of exasperation she planned to make a point of closure turned into a massive yawn.

"Nanao-chan needs to go to bed." A deep voice rumbled.

She stiffened. "I'll be going as soon as I repair the stain you made me put on this report."

Sitting one more time at her desk, she reached for a bottle of cream-colored editor paste. Nanao felt her nerves start to calm in the small world of her work. Now she could switch back to Vice-Captain mode.

Waiting for the paste to dry, Nanao shuffled the competed reports into final order at one end of her desk. She would send them with someone in the morning. Setting the last paper on the top, she stood and wavered. Deprived of sleep for so many nights, her body was slow to function and she stumbled. Her face bumped into something warm and firm and the rest of her seemed drawn to that warmth. All higher reason simply shut off as she breathed in the smell of _him_.

"Nanao?"

She managed an unintelligent, "Nngh…"

"Come, let's get you to bed."

At that, Nanao reflexively pushed at his chest even as her nose was still pressed against his shoulder.

Shunsui laughed softly, "Shhh, you're asleep on your feet. You won't even make it home on your own."

In a sweep of motion, Shunsui scooped up his Vice-Captain and deposited her gently on the couch. She struggled feebly, blinking away the fatigue and pushing at his arms as he drew his flamboyant pink haori over her. He easily captured her wrists, folding them deliberately over her stomach.

Nanao tried to glare at her captor but was interrupted by his large hands taking her glasses from her face. She made a grab at them, but they were tucked away inside her Captain's uniform – and she was not going to reach for them. Instead she opted to firmly bop him on the head.

"That is the second thing you've taken from me tonight, sir."

He grinned crookedly his heavy frame perched on the edge of the couch. "I'll give it back tomorrow." Brown eyes swept over her and darkened. "Or I'll give them back now, for a price."

Nanao raised a sarcastic eyebrow at her Captain. "Let me see, you are going to ask me for a kiss as payment. How utterly droll."

His chuckle was low and rumbling. "A charming idea, but no," he lifted her hand to his lips, tasting the sake that still lingered on her skin. "I require that you take tomorrow off and rest."

She opened her mouth to complain, only to have him cover it with callused fingers. "Nanao, you've worked yourself to exhaustion because of your sense of duty to me. Don't make me turn this into an order."

Brown met violet in a silent stand-off. Eventually Shunsui's gaze drifted down to where his hand lingered over her mouth.

Nanao swallowed, lips twitching. Heat bloomed in her face as she slowly nodded.

Shunsui bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Sleep well, my Nanao."

Her eyes drifted shut.

He moved to put of the light and settled on the floor next to the couch.

------------

Author's note: I'm not sure if this will be a short story, or a one shot. Please review.


	2. Opening Eyes

End of the Month - Opening Eyes

Something felt very out of place, yet it was too comfortable to truly do anything. It was a little too warm, but pushing the covers back was and easy solution. The pillow under her head seemed a little too hard, but if she turned on to her side, she could easily drift back to sleep.

She dreamed of long hallways full of sunlight. Her feet made the only sound and she smiled while clutching a new book to her chest. She was going to spend the day reading uninterrupted. Then a pair of heavy arms gently caught her from behind, filling her senses with the smell of sandalwood, sakura, and sword polish. No words were spoken as she simply stood in the embrace, even leaned into it. She found herself sitting on the floor with her book open in her lap. One masculine arm curled familiarly around her waist, holding her back against his chest. She said the first words,

"I like this."

A deep voice murmured, "I like this as well."

Nanao opened her eyes slowly, focusing on the crumpled black and pink fabric in front of her face. The scent was real, filling her every breath. Eyelids dropping shut, she shifted onto her back, neck complaining. The sound of movement above her popped her eyes back open.

Her Captain had somehow turned himself into her pillow during the night. She was usually a light sleeper with any unknown noise waking her. Even now, the heavy clouds of sleep refused to clear and she stared up at his relaxed features. One large hand propped his head on the arm of the couch. The other, she realized with an enormous blush, rested on her stomach. She wouldn't be able to move without waking him.

The twinkle of something tucked inside his gi caught her eye. Nanao smirked at the sight of her glasses that he had stolen the night before. She really didn't need to wear them all the time, except for reading. However, they served as an effective shield when evading the more pointed stares of Captain and inquisitive minds alike. Carefully reaching up with her left hand, she watched his face for any signs that he was waking. Nanao sighed inwardly, noting that he desperately needed to shave. His usual five o'clock shadow had darkened to a full day and a half's growth.

Her eyes darted back to her glasses. They rested just within reach of her fingertips. She cautiously strained to get a grip on the metal frames and pulled. They slipped smoothly from their hiding place and into her grasp before a brown hand fell firmly over her wrist.

"Now, now," Shunsui grumbled, "Sneaking things around under your Captain's nose is not like you, Nanao-chan."

He plucked the glasses from her nerveless fingers and put them back into his gi. "You don't really need them anyway – half the time you lecture me over the tops." He shifted on the couch to better lean his head against its back and Nanao was sharply reminded of her rather cozy position next to him. She shot up straight, only to have him pull her right back down, head thumping awkwardly against his leg.

Shocked, Nanao stared upside down at the smiling face of her superior officer. She habitually raised her hand to smack him, but found that she couldn't quite reach his head and had to settle with his chest instead. He made a half-hearted grunt at the impact.

"Ah, Nanao, you said that you liked this only a moment ago."

It was too much – she knew she had to get away from him or something would go severely sideways. She twisted around, throwing off his restraining arm and sat up on her knees to face him. The pink haori tangled around her legs, but she ignored it and pointedly held out her hand.

"Sir, my glasses if you please."

Shunsui's brown eyes swept her up and down and inwardly she quailed. She chose to focus only on his wide grin and not the strange looks he was giving her most disheveled appearance.

He sighed dramatically, "Oh, I'm not sure where I put them! I'm afraid I am not the organized person as my Nanao-chan is."

Exasperated to a whole new level of irritation, Nanao reached over and plunged her hand into his uniform and grabbed for… nothing.

Strong arms trapped her against Shunsui's chest. Heart pounding, she struggled to summon up her mask of indifference beneath the crimson of her face. The bare skin under her fingers did not help. Jerking both hands to her chest, she leaned as far away from her Captain as possible. Shunsui gave her a catty grin that only egged her anger to greater heights. At this rate, she was seriously considering calling on her demon arts, or at least 'accidentally' putting her knee down in a most painful place.

"Sir, let go! This is harassment!"

His smile faded into deadly focus. "Not if it is a mutual exchange."

Nanao fell back onto policy as her final defense, shoving ineffectually at his shoulders. She knew now that it had all been another set-up and made it her mission to walk out the door without glasses or hairclip. She squirmed in his grasp and recited the code of conduct for all officers.

Shunsui only smiled patiently while easily keeping a hold on her smaller figure. When she started to repeat herself, he cut her off with a quick peck on the lips. Nanao froze, violet eyes wide in shock. Then she blinked and slapped him sharply across the face.

Shunsui took the blow without flinching, his dark eyes cutting. His hands slowly slid from around her waist and he withdrew, holding her only with the hurt in his gaze.

Nanao hesitated, then untangled herself from his lap and stood. They stared in heavy silence at one another. Her heart hammered in her chest and she realized that through all the teasing and flirting, a thread of sincerity had been staring her in the face. She had been willfully blind to it, but if she were honest, she would admit that such unchartered territory terrified her.

Questions piled upon questions. The reason why Shunsui had chosen now to blatantly pursue her was small in the face of what may happen in result. They were defying inter-office rules – not that her Captain had ever been overly concerned with rules. It was her job to keep him in line and now he was asking her to step over it. Nanao pushed a loose strand of hair out of her face.

Shunsui rose from the couch and held out one hand as a sort of peace offering. She knew what he wanted truly. Something drastic had changed during the night, something that simply had to happen; rules be damned. And in the end, the question was whether she would take that final step past station, rank, and stubborn pride.

She closed her eyes and took his hand. He softly pulled her to him, wrapping heavy arms around her shoulders. She knew he was waiting for something and swallowed,

"I don't know where we'll go from here."

His deep voice rumbled into her. "Anywhere you want, dear Nanao."

She let her hands creep up to the folds of his uniform, half-searching for her missing glasses, half for reassurance that he was really holding her. She finally summoned her courage to look up at him. Brown eyes met violet, one warm and secure, and the others hesitant.

Nanao fisted her hands in the material of her Captain's gi to keep them from trembling. Tilting her head upward, she frowned, "I never let myself even consider… I'm not sure how to handle this."

Shunsui's fingers traced her chin and her eyes widened as he bent and gently pressed his mouth to hers.

Kissing had been a strange concept to Nanao. She had wondered what could be thrilling in that a touch where one consumed food could be thought as romantic. Now she wasn't sure if she would ever have enough of it. The sensation of damp silk against her skin sent electricity through her entire body. A delicate pulling on her bottom lip made her shudder, knees giving way. She lost contact for a breathless moment, before Shunsui deftly picked up where he left off.

Shunsui smiled with a trace of smugness at the glassy look in her lovely eyes. Resting his forehead against her own, he whispered in her ear, "We can take it one day at a time, my Nanao. We have all the time in the world."

Author's Note:

How much suspense and fluff can I work into one chapter? I think this is the greatest ever. This is the product of a rather taxing road trip, and I hope it makes Nanao/Shunsui fans giggle!

I might throw in another chapter, but as you can tell, there is no real plot.


	3. Planning for the Future

Planning for the Future

An opaque sphere swirled around a mannequin. The bubble darkened abruptly and the dummy inside vanished in a muffled _fwump_. A moment later, the sphere dissolved leaving a pile of half-burnt straw and cloth. The pile was swept up and deposited neatly in a wastebasket before being replaced with another mannequin. Nanao glanced around the room with its various hanging targets and a pile of undamaged figures, simple desk and chair, and the clean beige walls.

Her hobby of the past three years was working on a modified series of spells. Usually, one spell would be cast and immediately followed by another in two series of actions. The lapse of time between the two was only a moment, but Nanao knew in the midst of battle, an instant could mean the difference between life and death. Her past achievements were the union of various binding spells to those that could shield the confined individual or transport them and even place a healing stasis around a possibly injured enemy.

Her newest studies had found a way to combine a series of containment and destructive chants in such a way to silently destroy an enemy. However, the degrees of powers in ratio to one another still needed testing. If she did not contain the blast, the breaking of the sphere containing the energy would be louder than the explosion itself. If she had more containment than explosion, the noise still echoed when the containment dropped.

Nanao tapped the end of her pen against her mouth, silently going over the last series of words. She changed the inflections in her chant, making notes in her ledger and continued retesting in the privacy of the kudo-master study. She was nearing the solution; she just had to try one more modification.

Chanting one more combination, the sphere reappeared around the new dummy. Continuing the chant, Nanao followed the containment spell with the sign for destruction etched in glowing lines on the air. She choreographed the conclusion of the spell's verbal components with the motions and ended them in perfect unison. This time the darkened sphere faded and silently deposited the ashes onto the floor.

Nanao wiped the moisture that had gathered on her forehead and smiled in satisfaction.

"Impressive."

A burst of riatsu came to her hand instinctively. Shunsui held his hands up in surrender. She chose instead to pointedly blow up the target just to his left. The breeze whipped his hair about his face for a moment but he didn't flinch.

"Sir, you aren't allowed in here."

He cocked an eyebrow. "I'm a captain."

Frowning, she reiterated, "It is dangerous to enter a practice room unannounced. A spell could easily go wrong when the caster is distracted."

Shunsui smirked. "Do I distract you?"

Nanao chose to translate his question on the professional level. "No, sir. I have just finished."

He strode forward, tilting his hat back to get a better look at her open ledger. His eyes widened before she slammed the book shut, clipping the tip of his nose. Straightening, the Captain regarded his second.

"Nanao, this is something that many have tried in the past. Many have tried, failed, and been injured in the process."

She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I am aware of that. However, most of their research was based only on fancy. They could not find the balance between the two."

Shunsui shrugged but he was eyeing her ledger curiously. "How many combos have you come up with?"

"Forty-five, though really only about half of that amount if you don't count direct variations."

"So that is what you keep in that secret little book of yours." He tried to open it.

Nanao firmly held the heavy cover shut and answered his pout with a stern frown. "You are being rude, Captain."

"I'm being curious. This would be rude."

Shunsui abruptly tugged on the hand Nanao used to cut him off and placed a slightly sloppy kiss to her shocked mouth. Her wide eyes and pink cheeks contradicted her wrinkled nose in such a way that he couldn't help laughing.

She delicately wiped a hand across her lips. "I am glad that you have realized had you tried that outside this room I would have hit you so hard you would wish you had a hangover in comparison."

He slipped around the desk and pulled her reluctant form against him, chuckling, "I shiver every time you threaten me."

She glared at him over her glasses. "I'm serious, sir."

A mock shudder gave him the excuse to wrap his arms snuggly around her waist. For a long moment she stood stiffly in his grasp then with a heavy sigh, she gave in and rested her head against his shoulder. He wasted no time in taking advantage of her acceptance and dipped his head to capture her mouth. Again she stiffened before shyly running one hand to touch his face.

Nanao drew away first, eyes dropping to the broad chest in front of her. Blinking off the almost drugged haze he always created, she remembered a rather important question she had been meaning to ask. They had been a 'couple' for nearly two weeks – a concept that she was still unsure of.

"Kyouraku-san, I've been wondering…" She paused, trying to find the proper way to breach the topic. "Our relationship changed rather abruptly."

Shunsui smiled against her hair. "I think it has been just waiting to happen."

She poked him in the chest with one finger. "That night… when you came into the office. You had sake with you, but you hadn't been drinking. You harassed me on a much more… direct level. And it just occurred to me that something must have happened for you to have changed your ways so suddenly."

"Ah, and no one knows my habits better than my Nanao-chan."

She gave him a pointed stare and he sighed. "You are too observant for me sometimes."

He scooped her up and sat on the desk. Curled comfortably on her Captain's lap with his whiskers tickling her forehead, Nanao let her fingers explore the exposed portion of his skin, silently marveling at the soft yet wiry hair on his chest.

"It was a game at first." His voice rumbled in her ear. "I had dinner with Ukitake Jyuushiro and we were talking about our indulgences. Then he started arguing about what he could live without. Our lists grew shorter, but he cornered me when it came down to two things – you and sake."

Nanao rolled her eyes.

"You're rolling your eyes right now, but let me explain. Sake lets me relax and forget certain things. If I were not able to do so, I'd be rather unpleasant… Ukitake knows this and did not argue with my choice. But he asked if I would ever give you up, I had no real argument, only the conviction that I would not."

Pushing her glasses back up her nose, she was startled by the large hand that plucked them from her face. Before she could argue, he had swept her up into one of his mind-wiping kisses. Drawing a moan out of her, he gently maneuvered her so that she knelt over him and he could look up into her flushed face. In retribution, she pushed off his straw hat. He only smiled and took her chin in his hand.

"I would not," Shunsui breathed, "Because you are ten times better than sake." He kissed her again, tasting her bottom lip. "You gave me a sense of purpose and refreshment in a world where everything has become insufferingly boring."

Nanao blinked down at him and frowned. "Being a distraction is not exactly flattering."

He gave her a slow, sensual grin that mimicked the glide of his hands up her legs. She couldn't help trembling as he slowly and rather shamelessly explored her figure. "Ah, that is how it began, love. Then I found your resistance to me fascinating. It only added to your _natural_ beauty."

Here he lightly squeezed her backside and she squeaked indignantly.

"I don't know when I fell in love with you, it was just there. Ukitake merely outlined that fact for me."

Nanao stared down into the rather rough figures of her Captain. The usually lazy brown eyes were intent on her face but she avoided meeting his gaze. Brushing back his long bangs, she let her fingers wander over one eyebrow, down to his strong jaw dusted in his characteristic stubble, and then across his lips. He gently nipped at her fingertips.

"I'm just about ready to jump you, Nanao dearest."

She raised her eyes. "Kyouraku-san, you assume that I would let you."

"Wouldn't you?" He leaned forward, but she pulled away.

"I think I need to say something first." Nanao poked his rather large nose. "You do not tell anyone about my project and," she bent down to his right ear. "I think I'll jump you first."

She reveled in the groan she pulled out of him when she carefully nibbled on his earlobe. The world spun for a moment before she found herself on her back with the cool wood of the desk highlighting the warmth of the body above.

Shunsui carefully drew one shoulder of Nanao's uniform back far enough to kiss the skin of her collarbone. With her hands winding through his hair, he took his time in expressing just how much more he enjoyed the taste of Nanao compared to that of sake.

It was advantageous that once a kudo practice room was booked, no one interrupted until the room was signed out.

The End

Author's Note: So I think that's it! Now I'm going to go finish my FMA story.


End file.
